EAST NORRITON — As many small businesses are becoming more comfortable urging their customers to tweet, like, post, share and send, they’re more aware than ever that nothing can ever beat a friendly voice, a smile and a handshake.

Making the most of in-person relationships will always give the small biz guy or woman the upper hand over their cyber-based competitors.

With OnSpot Social, they can have it both ways.

The innovative app for iPads was on the cusp of a trend when it was initially launched nearly a year ago, and now retail shops, restaurants, gyms, auto dealerships, trade show vendors and even Las Vegas nightclubs are engaging their customers more efficiently via OnSpot Social as an accessory rather than a substitute for the human touch.

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It makes life easier for customers as well, with no fumbling around with a pen to add their names to an e-mail list and trying to remember to “like” the business on Facebook later. It’s all there in front of them enticingly splashed on the iPad, dutifully anchored down by its owner.

The connection is forged on the spot — hence the name.

“The iPad is sitting on the business’ counter and draws you in, and the whole design is to engage people from a distance and pull them in,” said developer Gene Whitaker of East Norriton, one of the four creative minds behind OnSpot Social, which include operations manager Andrew Chupalio of Doylestown; marketing director Ryan Taft of Flourtown and developer Tim Cochrane of Downingtown.

“People can easily sign up for the company’s social feed, and for the business it’s all very customizable, and that’s where the complexity of it is, yet it’s very simple for them to utilize.”

The e-mail addresses are quickly ferried into the business’ web account, where they can be accessed and uploaded into an e-mail marketing service, providing multiple ways of reaching out to customers later, Chupalio explained.

“Up to now businesses would collect e-mail addresses on paper and then at the end of the day would have to aggregate all those pieces of paper and manually type them into the system. Our business is all electronic. Once a business has an iPad there’s a lot they can then do.”

Since three of the OnSpot founders had extensive experience in app development, Chupalio recalled that the brainstorming for new ideas led them to some interesting places creatively.

“With that background, we were trying to think of neat ideas that could be used and we came up with this and approached two other app developers with the concept and it grew from there,” he said. “We really didn’t know how fast it would grow because there are a million iPad apps out there, but this was geared toward businesses.”

The biggest obstacle the men encountered was figuring out a marketing strategy, Chupalio said.

“Our subscription prices are pretty low and it didn’t make sense for us to go door to door to businesses to try to sell this, so it’s been a lot of online marketing.”

Fine-tuning OnSpot Social for a public setting on a device typically geared for personal use was also somewhat daunting at first.

“All our testing has been done locally in the Philadelphia suburbs,” said Chupalio, who added that coming up with the catchy name for their handiwork was a collaborative effort.

Companies that have been on spot with OnSpot Social include Gibson Guitars, Manhatten Bagel and The Light Group nightclubs of Las Vegas.

“Our clients run from big companies to small mom and pop stores,” Chupalio said. “The large chains can all synch their iPads together for instant updates.”

Annual subscriptions run under 15 bucks a month, but the OSS guys don’t demand long term commitments.

A trade show vendor, for example, can opt for a one-time OnSpot shot for $24.99.

And so, with OnSpot Social, the local dry cleaner, florist and donut maker get to cement relationships with face-to-face interaction but don’t miss out on the secondary but important virtual world follow-ups.

“When a customer connects to your business at your physical location,” Chupalio said, “it’s much more personal than just liking you on Facebook on their computer at home.”